Get ready – Eco Fashion Week is coming!

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Carolyn Bruce, Chic Sheet Challenge, Colleen Tsoukalas, Dianna Drahanchuk, Eco Fashion Week, Fairmont Waterfront, Myriam Laroche, Robin Hemmingsen

It’s the time again – Eco Fashion Week is back for its 12th season, March 31 to April 2, due to the amazing efforts of the event’s dynamic founder and organizer Myriam Laroche and her indefatigable team.

I had the privilege of attending the press preview for this year’s event earlier this month at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

The event kicks off on March 31 with its signature open dialogue series,  Collective Conversation Vancouver, which is a day of learning more about how far we’ve come and how far we have to go towards sustainable textile use and re-use. The day’s keynote speaker, Lululemon’s VP of global sustainability, will be followed by three panel sessions featuring fashion and retail industry leaders and stakeholders as speakers.

Of course you can also expect a host of exciting new and familiar designers showcasing their latest original designs during Designer Showcases on the evening of April 1.

And one of my favourite events, the Chic Sheets Bed Linen Challenge, will take place on the evening of March 31. Eight students from LaSalle College Vancouver have each been given four end-of-life sheets donated by Fairmont Waterfront and three weeks to resurrect them into runway fashion statements based on the theme of Canada’s 150th Anniversary. I saw some of their sketches at the preview – such talent.

The following are some of the faces I saw at this year’s press preview.

Below: Colleen Tsoukalas, writer/photographer of the blog Clothes Line Finds, co-run with her daughter Anthea. A familiar face at Vancouver fashion events. I wish I got a better shot of her shoes. Love those layers, textures, and colours.

Below: Carolyn Bruce, designer of jaw-dropping steam-punk-inspired jewellery. Feast your eyes on her work here. Of course that’s one of her artworks around her neck. She has shown her collections in many fashion shows in the Vancouver area, including VALT 2016, captured on video here – and she look so innocent!

Below: The women in red – knockouts! Left, Dianna Drahanchuk, President of SMOC (Society for the Museum of Original Costume) and award-winning fashion designer. Right, Robin Hemmingsen, President of LaSalle College Vancouver. Robin gave such a wonderful speech at this event, full of passion and dedication to EFW, her students, and her institution. So refreshing!

Below: I didn’t get his name but he is one of the hardworking men behind the scenes in Myriam’s team helping to make EFW a success. I asked him if he often gets compared to the royals. He said Yes, sigh.

Below: Designs from last year’s Chic Sheets Challenge displayed alongside the escalators at Fairmont Waterfront.

Below: Random crowd shot. Why not?

Below: Dianna again with unknown woman wearing a dynamite outfit. Eyes lock on.

That’s all. Maybe I’ll see you at Eco Fashion Week. All the events take place at Fairmont Waterfront. Tickets and more information are available at the Eco Fashion Week website here.

Hobnobbing at Leone with Emma Dunlavey

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Beauty Night Society, Carolyn Bruce, Clothes Line Finds, Colleen Tsoukalas, Emma Dunlavey, Forest City Fashionista, Leone, LuvnGrace Entertainment, Raw Foundation, Shelley, Vernard Goud

Last Friday night, May 27, I attended “Emma Dunlavey CURVE Fine Art Photography Exhibit and VIP Shopping Event” at Leone, the posh fashion retailer in Vancouver. I went with my good friend Shelley, who was visiting Vancouver from London, Ontario.

What can I say? Never have I clutched a glass of red wine and swanned in and out of racks bursting with gorgeous designer duds with such an edge of danger: Do Not Spill on Dior! Heh.

Right, Shelley of blog Forest City Fashionista, and yours truly. Wearing our vintage duds and feeling like a million bucks.

I chatted for a while with artist Emma, whose gallery of photographic works graced the venue and who donated for auction a copy of her latest coffee table book called RAW, autographed by her and co-author BC-native Pamela Anderson. Proceeds of the book and went to the charity Beauty Night Society which provides “life makeovers” to Vancouver women living in poverty in the Downtown Eastside; partial proceeds of artwork sales also went to the Beauty Night Society.

Emma is what I call a jetset artist – she travels the world with her camera stopping for resin sculpting, shoots, and gallery openings here and there. Her poise and beauty (how does she keep her hair so perfect and her skin so dewy?!) made me ashamed to think I should have brought a sippy cup for my wine. Her website is here.

I met many of Vancouver’s glitterati that night, all dressed to kill. I particularly enjoyed hanging out in menswear where I chatted with photographer David Bong and his manager Yuliana Sirman, who is also a model. She is stunning! Click the link to see for yourself.

Colleen Tsoukalas of the blog Clothes Line Finds. She is wearing a gorgeous dragonfly necklace by Carolyn Bruce Designs.

The DJ was in fine form as well with very danceable sets, which she grooved along to in silver sequins. I’m sure her tunes juiced the crowd for the after party at Bauhaus, which I did not attend, being as vintage – or even vintage-ier – than my clothing.

Vernard Goud, principal in LuvnGrace Entertainment which co-produced the event with Leone, wore a spectacular wild boar’s head slung around his neck, not a la Godfather, but a custom piece designed for him by Carolyn Bruce, who specializes in over-the-top steampunk jewellery. Everywhere I looked guests were adorned with her bling. (See Rich in the photo below.) You really must have a look at her wares here, utterly bold, daring, and original. Thank you, Vernard, for the invitation.

Special thanks as well (I think?) to the two fantastic women at the Raw Foundation Culinary Arts & Nutrition Institute counter for saving (or ruining) my life by sharing their secrets to eating chocolate all day every day without regret and being able to make it by my bumbling self. Hahaha!

Shelley with fashionisto Rich Zeuq MagtibayAbarquez, wearing a custom Carolyn Bruce adornment for his bowtie. Some of Carolyn’s other pieces are HERE.

Finally, I can’t close without an enthusiastic nod to the people who provided the canapes, scrumptious bite-sized morsels of Indian food heaven served by a gorgeous woman in a sari. I regret that I don’t have their names. Yikes! I do know that they will be opening a restaurant soon in Gastown. If you know the caterer, feel free to leave a comment. [Edit: Gorgeous woman is Babita; Restaurant is Silk Dinner Lounge]

And that’s my report. Till next time!

For more coverage, visit the blogs of my friends who have posted on this event as well:

• Colleen Tsoukalas at Clothes Line Finds. She and her daughter Anthea blog on everything fashion in Vancouver and Toronto, and;
• Shelley at Forest City Fashionista, a style blog which includes coverage of cultural events from London to New York and its fashionable +40 elite.
• Carolyn Bruce also has a fantastic photo gallery on Facebook.